Update: 15 Months

September 13, 2014

Late again. Like usual... This is a milestone though. One year ago, yesterday, I swore in as a volunteer officially after my PST, which mean that one year from now my two years of service will be over and I will be coming home (if I don't choose to extend)! So that's that. Here's another.

"My Job"

My official job hasn't changed much since three months ago, but as warden I took on some responsibility for the trainees who will be swearing in and joining us in Iringa in about a week now. Now, just as my training class was one year ago, they will be coming in fresh to our area and we will be the experienced ones helping them adjust to their new lives.

My 'real' job, teaching, has been on pause for a few weeks now between shadow week (when the trainees came on their site visits), exams, and our midterm break. It is quite clear to me now that second semester is not about teaching or covering the syllabus, at least not for us Form II and Form IV teachers. This semester is all about preparation for the coming national exams. We have been doing some prep in physics for the practical section of their exam and we will continue with that and review for the theory portion for the rest of the year.

"Life"

Life is good these days. Since the last update I have been to MSC for my class, PST for the new class, we had two weeks of testing, shadow week and a week-long midterm break, so I haven't had much time in the classroom. And as much as I feel guilty about being away from my students, the trainings and breaks do give me essential time to re-energize for the home stretch for this school year. I've made some new friends in the new education class, wrote and recorded a song with another volunteer, refreshed my mind, got our one-year-down-one-to-go pep talk at MSC and am now feeling ready to do some hard core review with my students!

Besides my mental state, I also have some new members of my family at site. My cat had four kittens about a month ago and all of them survived (knock on wood)! They are just about big enough to be taken to their new homes with some villagers and other volunteers nearby, but in the mean time I'm having fun playing with them...maybe I'll have to keep one...

One thing that stuck with me from MSC (for whatever reason) was something a returned PCV (RPCV) said during a panel. She said that when she hit the one year mark, she started seeing every day as the last September 13th (or whatever the date may be) in country. She used it as a motivational process where if this is the last September 13th in country, how can if make the most of it? So I think I'll try this out and see how it works for me.

"Back Home"

Back home... Back home things are good I think. I am content for now with the news I get from home and have accepted that there is no way to keep up to date with everything and everyone from this far away. I've had a few friends return from volunteer stints abroad now and from what I've heard, the reverse culture shock is not easy to cope with at first, so I have that to look forward to a year from now. But it is nice to have them be home when I get back since they'll probably have advice when I'm going through what they are.

As much as I am looking forward to returning though, I have plenty on my plate here and will keep busy enough in the coming year to make time fly by.

2 Biggest Challenges Right Now

- how best to prep my students for their tests

- what to prioritize for my last year in country